It is still pretty darn hot here, though it is feeling less humid. Today the sky is filled with big fluffy clouds that might join together and decide to make some rain. Before I left for Las Terrenas, the usual weather pattern here was very hot and oppressively humid in the morning and then an afternoon shower would cool things down. Since I've gotten back it hasn't really rained, so I guess we're in some other pattern, which is basically very hot in the morning, kind of hot in the afternoon and a little less hot in the evening.
Last night, my tour guide Ernesto met me at my apartment and took me out for dinner (well, I was paying, so I guess he drove me). First he took me on a brief tour of the Zona Colonial, but he wasn't explaining anything. We were listening to talk radio, which I decided is a really good way to be exposed to a lot of language and cultural information (remember that in Argentina) - I was kind of distracted listening to the radio, but finally I said, "Hey, you are not explaining anything!", at which point he said he thought I already knew the area and then pointed out some building and we parked. So much for the tour, but it was nice riding around the old streets and seeing these very old buildings from inside an air conditioned car.
After parking the car we walked out onto a big open plaza and we could see a very big old stone building on the other side. Ernesto explained that it was Colombus' house. It was pretty impressive. On the side of the plaza where we stood were a bunch of old buildings that had been converted into restaurants. All of them had tables outside and there were several kinds of music playing and a few people eating. It was a very beautiful scene and I felt like I was in a different city from the grimy, noisy Santo Domingo I thought I knew.
We walked around a bit and finally gave in to the pressure from a very pregnant woman to look at her menu. She represented a restaurant called Museo del Jamon ( ham museum), which was a Spanish restaurant. It seemed fine with me as the other option I could see was Thai sushi, and I didn't feel like looking at all of the menus.
We chose a table under an umbrella because my weather sense told me it was going to rain. We ordered seafood paella and sat and waited for about 20 minutes or so before it finally arrived. A few minutes before the paella came to our table , we got a basket of bread, which would have been really nice to munch on while we were waiting.
The paella was good and I really liked the atmosphere (maybe we'll go back there tonight). At one point, the wind whipped up and blew our umbrella from above our heads. They couldn't fix it, so they closed it. It turned out to be a really nice thing. The sky was filled with lightening like I have never seen. It was like we were watching fireworks. Big bolts of lightening, sometimes several at a time would shoot across the cloudy sky, illuminating everything before all went dark again.
I enjoyed talking to Ernesto and learning more about life in the DR. He said that most of the restaurants where we were were owned by foreigners. He explained that most Dominicans don't have the money to invest, they only make enough to survive. But foreigners can come in an invest a little money and create a business that becomes very lucrative. It's sad. It explains why all of the chic little shops in las Terrenas were owned by French (and others), while the Dominicans did things like motorcycle taxis and work in hotels. Ernesto also told me that the Haitians work in construction and on sugar cane plantations because the work is too hard for Dominicans. Ironic.
Today he picked me up at 8:00. He brought me a traditional Dominican breakfast, which is called mangú. It is a green plantain that has been boiled and mashed and is served with different things. We had it with fried egg and pickled red onions. It was good, but my stomach was a little raw this morning from not sleeping very well.
After breakfast we went for a drive down the coast to a place called Boca Chica. It is a sleepy little seaside town which is the main getaway for Santo Domingans. The beach was a beautiful white sand beach with crystal clear turquoise waters. There was a small island a bit out that you could swim to. We didn't stay, but only drove through and then continued further down to visit another little beach before returning back.
The whole time Ernesto was listening to talk radio, which started to get on my nerves after a while. I watched a bit of Fox News this morning before he came (it is entertaining in its stupidity) where the big news was that Scarlett Johanssen sends e-mails to Barack Obama --- oooh a scandal! This talk radio this morning reminded me of Dominican Fox News or Rush Limbaugh, or some other fat bag of hot air spouting nonsense. From what I could make out, the first show we were listening to the guy was complaining about the lack of Dominican airlines and the price of gas. He should spend a day living with the shoe shine boys to see what real problems are. The next program was some kind of psychiatrist, kind of like Frasier. On the way back to Santo Domingo was another program where they were talking about homosexuals in the military and the church. I thought, nothing better than homosexuals to get people to turn in to this stupid shit. One woman on the program said that as a journalist she had first hand knowledge of homosexual lifestyles when she went to a gay bar to cover a story about Satanic rituals that were performed there. Maybe she was talking about a drag show? I've been to lots of gay bars in my life, but have never seen or participated in a Satanic ritual.
I felt really frustrated because I could not understand all of the program and also that I could not respond to the bull they were putting out. I love it when so called Christians say things like this about people and yet no one challenges them on their beliefs - virgin birth, son of God, the bible being the ultimate word ( a book that has been rewritten and edited over thousands of years?). I don't want to offend anyone's beliefs, but I am tired of religious people using their fairytales to persecute other people. In this land where Colombus first started one of the world's largest genocides with the bible in his belt, it is to ironic that the bible is still used. I think the damn thing should be banned.
That's going to get me into trouble.
Life is hard here, but according to Ernesto, people enjoy life and like to party. I can see that as we ride through the poor neighborhoods and see people hanging out and music blaring. There are blackouts and the water goes off periodically, but it seems everyone has a generator that at least powers their music system.
We finished our tour by having lunch in a seaside restaurant a few blocks from my apartment. I had a seafood soup that was ok. Ernesto had grilled chicken that looked really good.
It has been a real treat meeting him and having him show me around. I feel like I got a little bit past the surface of this place which at first seemed very intimidating and sad.
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